


By the Moon and the Fire

by ivymyst



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Kidnapping, One Shot, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 01:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16903455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivymyst/pseuds/ivymyst
Summary: Having been taken from her home and husband while pregnant, Ithilrin waits to be returned back to them. Back home.





	By the Moon and the Fire

Ithilrin trembled in the darkness, bare back pressed against the cold, jagged rock of the cave that sheltered her.

Her gown was sparse and torn to shreds, steeped in the murkiness of wearing it for so long and being dragged over many kinds of terrain.

Her captor had left her alone, not even bothering to bind her any longer or press the old rag back into her mouth to keep her silent. They had both known that on her own she was as good as dead.

Many days past now since she had stopped struggling, ceased her cries and screams for help, finally realizing that none would find her anytime soon.

She needed to keep her strength, she realized, whatever bit of it was left. But day by day she felt herself grow lighter, thinner. As if she was made of paper soon to blow away, but something still held her down and kept her from doing so, an anchor onto life.

Ithilrin looked down at her large stomach, parts of it exposed by torn holes in the front of her gown. She took a deep breath, a well full of despair within and she felt herself wanting to slip away. When she would, too tired to fight it, she’d have only a moment’s peace before being jolted back to awareness again.

It was not the returning presence of her captor, but the shifting of the life within her, its tiny strong limbs pressing to get out and stretching.

A little foot, she realized, making a small smile appear on her long drawn and tired face, her dry lips cracking.

Moonlight crept in with clearing of clouds and she could just faintly make out the footprints in the ground made by the one who’d taken her.

The forest was quiet, too quiet when a great howl erupted from the trees below followed by a crash, a chorus of grunts and unmistakable clang of swords that stopped her heart. Someone else had come. Rapidly she stood on weak, shaking legs, but stood just the same, bracing herself against the cave wall. It could be orcs, she realized with horror. She couldn’t bear to think of what they might do to her… to the life within her.

Using only the stealth one of her kind could muster she crept along the cave’s walls towards the entrance, ducking low to peek around and see. Below the cave was a small clearing, perfectly illuminated by the moon’s light. She caught sight of movement, but it was not enough. Another shout of pain echoed and she ducked lower, as well as she could, at least with the bulk of her unborn child growing ever larger at her waist.

“I’ve killed her! You are too late!”

It was a familiar voice that shouted angrily.

“So, you admit to your crimes!”

“You can never undo what’d I’ve done,” the loathsome voice responded.

“I’d slice you from ear to belly at this very moment were you not expected to face a trial for what you’ve done. Your days of terror end now!”

She heard a grunt, followed by more disturbance then concluding with the subtle noise of something weighty dropping to the ground.

“He must have been holed up in that cave up there,” said another voice.

More men.

Ithilrin drew back, fear still flowing through her. They spoke of the end of crimes and of trials but the words did not seem real. No, it could just as easily be a trick. Panic coursed through her, making her stumble back and fall, her stealth and cleverness fading into a childish terror. But she would fight, she told herself. She would fight, beg, weep, lower her life, anything to live. Once her child was safe… only then could she ever be at peace.

The men approached the hill, taking the narrow rocky path to where she hid. Her heart beat heavily in her chest, louder by the second, blood rushing in her ears almost painfully.

“Steel your stomach, and keep up your weapons, we do not know what sort of foul horde he’s collected,” a voice said steadily, approaching nearer.

The moment they blocked the mouth of the cave she realized that perhaps she should have run. They were tall, big bulking shadows with weighty armor that shined, as well as helmets with flowing… hair. Horsetail, she realized, the thought clicking into her mind as she dared to hope.

“Come out!”

It was the voice of a leader, she thought and it was surely the Rohirrim judging by what they wore, at least the longer she looked upon them. They were not foes…

Fresh tears sprung to her eyes and flowed freely as she stepped out of the darkness and into the moon’s rays and their sight. While their faces were kept in shadow, she did catch the brief flickering of surprise on their features.

“Please,” she whispered in what was at least passing Westron, her voice low as a whisper and so very hoarse. “Take me from here…”

She did not feel herself dropping to her knees in anguish and relief, but she did feel a warm cloak slide across her exposed shoulders. She saw the moon many times that night, watching it as it watched her. She did not feel herself lifted up onto a horse, nor the arms of a horse-lord’s that wrapped around her and held her safely in place, but she felt herself close her eyes, felt herself melt away, letting herself drift and finally sleep, knowing nothing.

When she knew the world again, it was not with her eyes, but her ears that did the noticing.

“We found her in  cave just south of this point. The one who held her has been taken in and will face his crimes. She was not the only one, but she will be his last…”

“Please, I must see her.”

Ithilrin opened her eyes as if a lever had been turned and she’d come alive. Orophin. He stood tall before her, his cloak pulled over him, his hands gloved as he held his bow at his side. Never had she ever seen him look so kindly to her before then as for many years it had been only cool indifference to the elf maid who’d ensnared his elder brother’s heart an distracted him from his duties.

His gaze was unblinking, wrought with emotion as his own tears spilled over and down his pale cheeks.

“Ithilrin. It is you,” said Orophin, pulling his glove off to reach his hand towards her. Naturally she took it, this small gesture meaning so, so much.

“I never imagined I’d see you again,” Ithilrin said. “I thought you had become only an image in my memory. You, Rumil and… Haldir. I thought I would die without seeing you ever again, truly.”

“I am here, Ithilrin, Rumil is close and Haldir is safe and will know joy and peace again once he finds that you are safe, if he does not feel it already in his heart.”

“Haldir,” she whispered longingly. “Take me to him, please…”

“He is a night’s ride from here, searching for you. We never ceased, never gave up hope. We even searched the mountains and the rivers, hoping to find any trace of you.”

“His child grows strong within me,” said Ithilrin. “Tell me, Orophin, that my child will know his father.”

“Of course they will, and you will see him again. Do not fear for anything anymore, you are safe, truly safe. None can ever hurt you, I promise that with my life,” said Orophin.

“Do not worry yourself over promises, I only ask that you take me to Haldir. There is an ache that has grown so heavy in my chest and it longs for him… I need him…”

Orophin said nothing, but nodded with such strong affirmation and assurance that she knew it to be true. He gripped her hand in his, drawing nearer before pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, a balm that further soothed her worries.

Long did he stay with her, having sent out a scout to find Haldir and alert him of the good news. She was too weak, too fragile to travel further, or at least that is what Orophin had insisted, keeping her nestled warm in several cloaks and blankets gifted by both man and elf alike, guarding her all around. She soon realized that she did not stir nor breathe without their notice, something that did comfort her to some extant, but nothing would truly appease her weary heart as seeing Haldir himself again. Many, many months had passed since her abduction and not one day did she dream of seeing him once again.

He finally came to her late the next night, when once again the moon had risen high and bright while the treetops overhead shivered in the coming autumn breeze, wavering with each of her breaths.

“Meleth,” he whispered, bending low beside her. It was not the moon that lit his face, but the crackling fire nearby. His eyes were wide, unblinking, drinking in the sight of her and worried to look away even once.

“You’ve found us,” Ithilrin said, reaching out for him  with both arms, the weight of the blankets sliding off of her. She ignored the way he sucked in a breath at the sight of her torn and ravaged clothing, choosing only to savor in the way he quickly took her into his arms, melting completely into him.

“Forgive me,” Haldir said softly into her hair. “I failed you.”

“No, you did not,” Ithilrin replied. “Never say such a thing. I lived because of your memory, because of our child…”

She did not see the way he closed his eyes, shutting them tight with silent anguish, but she did feel the tightening of his embrace, the growing of the bond between them and the movement of her child at the contact.

Their child.

“Take me home, Haldir,” Ithilrin said soft enough that only he could hear.

“Nothing will stop us and you will be kept safe, always,” said Haldir.

It was by the light of the fire and the moon that they, at last, kissed, it being full of both sweetness and of sorrow. She would heal, she thought, and they would know happiness again.

It was a promise to be kept.


End file.
